St. John’s redshirt senior forward Anthony Mason Jr. will miss the next three weeks while continuing to recover from a hamstring injury.
Mason Jr. was examined on Monday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. An ultrasound scan revealed that the hamstring, which was injured in September and then re-aggravated on Oct. 16, is not yet fully healed.
“We’re disappointed for Anthony, because we know he wants to be out there. We have to give him time to recover so when he joins us on the court, he’ll be 100 percent,” head coach Norm Roberts. “We’ll obviously be very happy and excited to get Anthony back. He is such a versatile scorer, and makes our team that much deeper.
An All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention selection and a first team All-Met honoree by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association (MBWA) as a junior in 2007-08, Mason Jr. averaged a team-best 14.0 points per game last season and scored at a 14.0 ppg clip across three contests before his injury three games into last year’s campaign. He is currently ranked sixth among St. John’s all-time 3-point shooters with 109 across his 80-game career, which includes making seven shots from long-distance against Louisville on Jan. 26, 2008, to cap back-to-back 29-point games
Meanwhile, St. John’s will apply for a medical redshirt for sophomore guard Quincy Roberts, who has been suffering from recurring migraine headaches this fall. Roberts was examined, diagnosed and is being treated medically by Anita Wu, M.D., Director of Neurology at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Testing has not conclusively determined that Roberts’ migraines are related to a concussion suffered on the Red Storm’s Sept. 5 game against the University of Montreal at Quebec in Canada.
Also on the injury front, big man Justin Burrell, who scored a bucket and went down with an ankle injury in the first minute of play against Duke on Dec. 5, is progressing after suffering a high right ankle sprain. He is now off crutches and is receiving therapy two times per day. Burrell is averaging 4.9 ppg and 3.1 rebounds this season, and his return to the court is expected at the end of the month.
(Photo courtesy ST. John’s Athletics)
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